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Development

The P.50 was designed under the leadership of Wslewolod Jakimiuk as a successor to the PZL P.11. The first prototype, the P.50/I, made its initial flight in February 1939, powered by an 840 hp Bristol Mercury engine and armed with a quartet of wing mounted 7.92 mm Wz 36 machine guns. An initial batch of 30 examples, designated Jastrzab A, were under construction at the time of the invasion.[2]

A second prototype was intended to serve as development aircraft for the more advanced Jastrzab II. Designated P.50/II, this featured a revised rear fuselage, a pair of 20mm cannon supplementing the machine guns, pilot armour and fitment for a 1,375 hp Bristol Hercules engine, which had not been installed at the time of the German assault. [N 2]

The first prototype was shot down during the invasion by Polish AA gunners, who assumed the aircraft was German.[3]